Okay, Psycho Donuts don't rival Dynamo's finessed flavors and tantalizing textures, but culinary competing doesn't appear to be their state of mind. These politically incorrect products have cocoa puffs, panda cookies and Butterfingers bound to their inbready blobs with names like "mood swing" "cereal killer" and "Michael Jackson" (for the chocolate donut with the white powdered sugar coating.)

They tranquilized the original names (such as down grading the "massive head trauma" to "head banger") due public protest but the doctor and nurse attire continues to be ratcheted up at this loopy bin.

I love your Daily Feed, I follow it daily. Love the pics. My question is: how do you get such an elevated shot? The people in the pic seem to not notice that you're taking the pic.

How do you do it?

Bob

Gutenberg replies:

Dear Bob,

Thanks for the nice comments. As far as the photography goes, the elevation was achieved by me holding the camera as high over my head as I could reach. I can't really see the image I'm shooting, so I take lots of pictures and only use the good ones.

Also, when a big blue rabbit walks into their restaurant, people tend not to notice the camera.

... when we stopped by for a "vow of silence" which rye-ly rolled off the tongue accented with Benedictine, creme de Griotte and bitters. I asked Mr. H. for a whisky-based cocktail and his response was a ginger, sweet vermouth and black walnut liqueur pool of pleasure ($10.00 each).

... contains no horsehead, but this bed of salami, coppa, prosciutto and mortadella has sheets of provolone which can be pulled back to reveal onion and lettuce on a mattress of Dutch crunch bread drenched in vinegar and olive oil.

I attacked this hearty helping of artichoke aortaed assembly with gusto before perusing the enticing array of Italian foodstuffs.

We once horrified a dining companion when we ordered squirrel at St. John Restaurant in London. The picked clean, little skeleton rattled our friend as he finished his chop (while donning imaginary blinders.)

... in a hot oven for 15 minutes (while you prep the salad and toasts) and you will be rewarded with Chef Fergus Henderson's sumptuous skeleton center:

... just be careful to keep an eye on it (like foie gras), you don't want it all to melt away in the cooking process.

-G

If you want to have your own bone to pick, you can head to Incanto for this very com-bone-ation as part of a 4-course St. John dinner including ox tongue and goat shoulder. They are fully booked, but have some walk ins set aside for those who care to suck the marrow out of life.

If you miss the Incanto dinner, marrow can be had on the morrow, May 12th, at Chez Panisse during their 4-course menu.

Incanto Restaurant
1550 Church St.
San Francisco, CA
St. John dinner
Tuesday, May 11th
doors open at 6 p.m.
415.641.4500

... at Pizzeria Picco are one of our fetish foods. These are frozen 3 Musketeers grown up style - a cloaked cocoa concoction that is both dense and light like a ca-cow/mousse that is man-dairy-tory snacking on a hot day.

These welcoming gluten globs were perfect pillows of old school bread.

We got a couple of tangy Margaritas:

... which we sipped on with an appetizer of artichoke dip ($4.95):

The waiter didn't ask why we didn't choke it down, but it came across as too pastey for our taste.

The burger ($9.95):

... was matched in diameter by its bun so that each bite brought both bread and meat, but we realized that we should have gotten an add on of a fried egg, bacon or cheese since this was too lean and under-seasoned on its own.

A better order would have been the Bellwether Farms ricotta and some grilled asparagus, but decent drinks took away the sting of our poor ordering.

With Timothy Hollingsworth off to the James Beard awards, Chef Walter Abrams took the helm this evening at The French Laundry where we supped on new as well as familiar formations.

René Geoffroy Champagne sparked our taste buds as we began with the signature gougers and salmon tartare cones before diving into a chilled English pea veloute with pickled ramps and Tokyo turnips.

Tapioca sabayon and white sturgeon caviar with Island Creek oysters offered the familiar flavors of another savory standout known as "Oysters and pearls":

A paper-thin slice of avocado was concealed by a slice of Kohada sashimi. A heart of peach palm pedestal supported this Asian-influenced article partnered with a puree of rice and a 2006 Fronholz Ostertag Muscat which chased this fish swimmingly:

A tangy cloud of lemon verbena foam floated over uni, strawberry "snow" and diced cukes in a sweet and salty blend of terrific textures.

Big fin squid in a saffron sea with Nicoise olives, red peppers and green garlic appealed to all of our senses:

Perigord truffle ragout and a chive chip topped the nested nosh of their hen egg custard which came home to roost with the1999 Lopez de Heredia Vina Gravonia:

A deconstructed Caesar salad had a butter poached lobster tail beside grilled Romaine lettuce capped by a melba tuille. Bottarga was showered over to stand in for the absent anchovy:

We took a leisurely stroll through their garden (across the street):

... and poked our noses into the greenhouse:

... before we headed back for more magnificence in the form of foie gras. This seared duck liver with sour cherries, Belgian endive, a quenelle of Swiss chard and a pool of Perigord truffle sauce was wonderful with a 2002 Kiralyudvar Tokaji:

A duck breast with cashews (both whole and puréed), fennel and a rhubarb relish with a 2007 Williams-Selyem Pinot Noir was ducky indeed:

offered a bookend of French Laundry classics before we reached the parfait of lemon and yogurt with pistachio ice cream with a 2005 Philippe Foreau Vouvray:

A passion fruit panna cotta with Bavarian cream was a rich, tart, capsule of contentment as we moved to mignardises and migrated back to the hutch:

The amount of talent housed in Thomas Keller's organizations is highlighted when the team is shuffled, yet the quality remains stellar. Every time we visit, there are risk-taking ideas that sound palatably improbable, but somehow stick their landings.